[Krimel] That said, exactly where in what I actually said do you find error?
Andre: In your misconstruction through lack of understanding Krimel. And this has come about through the arrogant and condescending way of interpreting and understanding 'Oriental culture' (whatever you mean by this).To do this from a theistic ( I presume Christian) perspective, I think is what annoyed me most. [Krimel] I understand that you are annoyed but other than, you don't like my spin on the issue, I don't see where you think I have misunderstood the broad outline of eastern philosophy or culture. Krimel said: Are you saying that Buddhism does not advocate passivity and the elimination of desire? Are you saying that Hinduism and Buddhism do not aim towards escape from the cycle of death and rebirth? Andre: 'Passivity' and 'elimination of desire', 'escape of the cycle of death and rebirth' are only snippets of a fairly complex philosophy of living, upon which I cannot expand in this forum. (If you are genuinly interested I can recommend some literature). First and foremost they strive for compassion, a word which is almost outdated here in the West. And if you do use it ...people will look at you stange as though saying: 'Something wrong with you?' I am not an expert either and therefore do not criticise what I do not understand.( Remember Dylan?) [Krimel] If you have something that suggests that compassion is somehow an end run around the eight noble truths and that the "desire" for compassion is exempt from the renunciation of desire, ok. But are you seriously trying to tell me that renunciation of desire and escape from the cycle of rebirth are NOT fundamental to oriental philosophy because if you are I might have a few readings to suggest to you as well. [Andre] The other thing that annoyed me Krimel, is that I have worked and lived in 'The Orient" for 3 years and have Buddhist friends there. They are very dear to me and I am dear to them. These practitioners of the 'ism's ' you talk about are very real people. They have their ups and downs, they have hopes and dreams and their life is very difficult and at present are also suffering from the financial crisis etc etc. [Krimel] So what? I have lots of Christian friends... fill in the blank. I am not talking about your friends or my friends I am talking about the consequences of certain beliefs. [Andre] They are human beings mate, just like you and me. They believe in their things, you believe in yours. I have never heard them speaking in an arrogant or condescending way about Christianity or any other 'Western' religion. When the topic is brought up they just smile and say; "Mm, interesting". [Krimel] I would suggest that anyone who cannot think of arrogant condescending things to say about Christianity hasn't studied Christianity. Buddhism is not immune. Neither is Hinduism or any other religion. Bo was simply voicing the prevailing idea around here, that oriental philosophy is somehow more profound than western philosophy. But I think that is because most of us are familiar with western philosophy and familiarity breeds contempt. As a result we are likely to give a pass to the ludicrous ideas endemic in other systems of thought and to ignore their consequences. I'll wash my mouth out when you provide a reason for me to apologize. Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
